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When it comes to being a responsible consumer it is easy to get caught up in feeling guilty based on idealistic values. “I won’t shop at Wal-Mart yet I do shop at Target.” WalMart’s corporate track record and foreign labor practices leave a lot to be desired. ew. Yet, to be completely honest I don’t truly know if Target is much better. I heard just recently that Gap, the international retailer, recently discovered a subcontractor was using children as young as ten to sew clothing in New Delhi. And it seems nearly impossible to purchase an item made in the US (not that the US is free of sweatshops, I’m afraid). So, I’m all for supporting local business where I can but I believe it’s also important to encourage fair-trade alliances which often allow poverty- stricken communities to employ safer practices they may not be able to maintain without our business. What a dilemma!
Relax. Take a deep breath. Here’s what is most important- do what you can and what works for you. I’ve discovered lots of little tricks that allow me to indulge in great products on the cheap without making Wal-Mart a destination on my regular outings. Yes, it takes a bit more planning but it also allows me the luxury of avoiding the tacky-cheap-welfare-enforcing-small-business-killing-mega-giant!
Here’s what I do. I’ve got a pretty good idea of what I use on a weekly/monthly basis. Once I had this figured out I created a grocery list (the template can be easily edited to reflect your own “regular grocery purchases.”) It also lists the top 12 pesticide-ridden foods (the “Dirty Dozen”) and the 12 with the least pesticides. You can view a more extensive list ranked worst to best by checking out this EWG website. If you can, purchase the dirty dozen in strictly organic form and go with conventional on the other if organic is a bit too pricy. Here’s a list for fish. I print out a handful of my shopping lists on the back side of my daughter’s school handouts (when I’ve got ‘em), post a list on the fridge and just check off what I need when I think of it or add items as I notice I’m out or low.
Next, I’ve scouted out a few different places in town that offer up quality organic and local-safe products and compared prices. I’ve discovered Costco is valuable for inexpensive Pacific brand organic chicken broth, frozen mahi-mahi, organic ground beef, avocados, organic milk, butter and other items on the low-pesticide range. Across the street from our Costco is a Grocery Outlet, a grocery liquidation store. Grocery Outlet is located along the west coast; if you’re not, look for a grocery liquidation near you- it’s worth it. This is often our stop before we hit our main grocer just in case we come across what we need here first. I snatch up organic or mostly organic personal items as I see them. The above shaving gel and hand soap from Nature’s Gate were more than 50% off the retail price! Liquidation places are also great for frozen vegetables and I’ve also stumbled across organic boxed soups and broths. Great staples to stock up on for next-to-nothin’.
I always finish up my shopping at the local grocer that offers the best fresh organic produce and meats. When I’m really on the ball I make sure to keep a membership with a local grocer, Fresh Abundance, that does weekly deliveries for orders of $35 or more (very reasonable). Most cities offer Community Suported Agriculture (CSA) which offer a service providing local produce boxes delivered on a weekly basis during the growing season. See if you can find one in your area. Remember, it all goes much quicker if you bring your list and stick to it. It is very easy to get distracted- especially if you’re going to shop a few locations- but don’t despair, a little wandering sometimes yields an unexpected treasure.
It is completely a perfect free-form Saturday. The fam and I have were already out early to visit some friends that will be living part-time in town. We took the two to a disappointing restaurant last night that we were sure would be a huge hummer! I had read numerous reviews in local trustworthy sites that gave this restaurant raves. It’s a Moroccan place, the Marrakesh, that is waaaay tacky from the outside (turns out, equally on the inside). Now, that is never enough to keep me away from a possible diamond-in-the-rough; DeLeon’s (a fabulous local Mexican deli) is a case in point. The comments that pulled me to want to dine there were about the generous fun character the owner/server was. Phrases like, “plan on spending the evening”, “we always take out-of-towners here when they visit”, “we love this place”, pulled me in. I wanted some of that.
Our friends are vegetarians so we phoned ahead to find out if they would have a range of options. We were informed that they had plenty of choices so we decided this would be the place we would go. We made reservations and were excited! really. I had heard so many things about this place that I envisioned the place to be dark and dusky. I imagined tired rich tapestries draping the walls and low tables bordered with faded richly woven pillows. I expected the waiter to be jovial and kind. I expected to eat a buffet of food with my fingers relishing each morsel and scoop. I expected hot teas and exotic beer.
Sigh. One thing most people know about me or attribute to me is my optimism. It’s true. But here’s the thing, I choose to be optimistic because I truly believe that is the only way to experience life fully. Yet, there are those times when a situation pulls me to just want to whine and vent a bit before I go back to my usual “rosy picture”. The whole dining experience was mostly a disappointment. The place did have tapestries on the walls and low tables but the entrance reminded me of some bad 80’s home with random Middle Eastern relics. We joked that we probably wouldn’t want to see the place in the daylight. So far this is all fine, like I said; we can sacrifice some atmosphere for good grub.
We were seated once our guests arrived; three of us on the floor, two of us on the cushioned bench. Our guests weren’t used to icy snowy roads and were looking forward to alcohol of some sort. A beer would be great. (Strike 1). After waiting about 10 minutes we were given towels so we could all rinse our hands under some warm water poured into a bowl in the center of the table. This was kind of cool. The dinner started with soup, moved to salad, then an appetizer, the main course and finished with dessert. We were all to pick our own individual main course. As it turned out the only vegetarian courses were Vegetables with Couscous and Vegetables with Rice.
Soup was good, a small but nice lentil. Salad was a sort of vegetable relish you ate by scooping it up with chunks of bread. yummy. Next, came the appetizers. My husband and I got a very interesting ground chicken and egg dish flavored with cumin/cinnamon hints, baked inside phyllo dough and sprinkled with powdered sugar. It was good; a sort of Moroccan Monte Cristo. They were out of eggs so our vegetarian friends were offered a second serving of soup or salad as an appetizer. (Strike 2). All of this was broken up by intervals of fifteen minutes between courses where we had no food at all in front of us. (Strike 3) This created ample time for actually noticing things like the fact that the cushions were completely falling apart, literally busting at the seams and foam pieces were falling out. The bench was interesting in that the underside of the small round table nearly met the top of the cushion which meant you had to put your legs off to the side, not under the table. (Strike 4-wouldn’t have been a strike if the food was better and wait shorter).
It didn’t get much better. We did enjoy ourselves. We joked about the tackiness anticipating the next course to be the glimmering jewel that would redeem the evening. Our waiter was a jovial kind man as I had hoped. He joked with our vegetarian friends calling them, “Discovery Channel.” Like, “Hey, Discovery Channel you like hiking on the weekends, huh? I know your type.” He was entertaining. The thing is the food never wowed and the second bowl of soup was just a little weird. We were served plenty of tea which was tasty enough although my husband later pointed out (correctly) that it had a faint taste of soap. I think this was just a character of the tea though, nothing really negative. The baklava, as a finish, was good. I even licked my fingers.
I won’t hurry back to the Marrakesh but I think it could redeem itself. I believe if my husband and I had visited and gotten the same meal in a timelier manner we would have probably enjoyed the evening. I think, overall, it was the long wait times and sad vegetarian options that really killed it for us. Perhaps… maybe… I set my expectations too high.
It is important to me to strive to eat well (avoiding processed & preserved nutrition-lacking food) and yet when cravings hit it always seems to be during snack time! Of course, my cravings lean toward salty/crunchy which seem to be the most challenging for me to curb. I have come across an incredibly quick and easy flax seed cracker recipe that is both salty & crunchy yet I’m wondering what other goodies I can eat, not only without guilt but, with pleasure.
I’m not interested in any of those “100 calorie snack packs” either because those babies are loaded with a bunch of ingredients that I can’t pronounce which means they aren’t going to do my body much good. It’s that kind of crap I’m trying to stay away from- that and chips of any variety. I wonder if I could find some yummy salty dip recipes to eat with veggies if that may help.
I’m going to try this hummus recipe. I love hummus and could always spice it up with some roasted red peppers and other veggies depending on the “dipper” I’m using. Ooooooooo these snack ideas from Real Simple look delish!
I really enjoy nuts for a quick bite- especially tamari-roasted almonds- but if I’m not careful I can eat a large quantity in no time which ends up an equally large calorie count. Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m not a big calorie counter but I work to eat what my body needs while balancing my carb to protein ratios. (ohh, I sound so technical) I’ve learned some good tricks for eating proper portions, for example, a meat portion should be no larger than the size of your palm and this usually works for carbs too; it’s got to be less for nuts, damn!
Well, my surfing is yielding things like roasted garbanzo beans, chex mix style snacks and air-popped popcorn tossed in hard grated cheeses. I’ll have to play around with some of these this weekend and see what I come up with. Then, I’ll post my results and see if I was able to come up with some satisfying craving-killers.
